Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-03-17
The Amount Of the state Debt.
AMHERST COURTHOUSE. VA,
March Ia 1887.
D IA E1il0r IA thc Dianntch

TO The Editor of the Dispatch.
Seeing in publication in your paper
some time ago statement of the debt
of the State by the Second Auditor
which is calculated to mislead most Sc
riously the gentlemen of the Legisla-
ture who may be studying this question
from the standpoint Of an honest wish
to do something to free the State from
its present emborrassments, will you
please permit me 10 state the figures as
/ think they should be put before the
gentlemen who have now this RESPONSE
bility upon them?
Mr. Kuflin makes the debt out as an
amountof about $50, 0O0, 900 as the sum
for the Legislature TO consider in deal
ing with the proposition from the Gre
ditors for settlement. The only part
of the debt that is TO be considered
anew, in any proposition from the
creditors, is that part which bears the
tax-receIvable coupons. All the rest
has come in or will come in under the
Riddlebcrger bill. and should be count
ed on that basis. Again : A large part
of the debt, as represented by the new
IS, has been bought in by the State,
and should be counted either as paid
or as a resource to be used at any time
in paying part OF the outstanding debt
such as the coupons.
(a) Total debt Of all characters al
ready funded into 3s.......... N,1O),B1
(b) Other debt, without tax.receiya-
BILE coupons. would be, when
funded:
s., 3G0.529 Of cou. reg. bonds
at 81 per cent. .-..S USOS
SJg, l06 peeler. coupon, and
reg bonds nj IT,. 592,1SS
2N.50O ten-forty reg. at GO. l2s,7OO
1854. 473 old rnfunded. at GO
per cont. on two
thirds. ............. 1,622,6S
Interest, black script. &C., at
- 4,5S3,s6l
(c) Consol coupon bonds ~ yfpnded at
" observation-disclosures. is,Olo,Oo1
at par. .............N .......... 7,fs35O)
Total Of principal. ...............tN,SS $780, Ol
OF the above S31, 1886, 7O1 at least the
1886, 701 will never be heard of, as
no doubt it has been lost or destroyed.
There is good evidence of this in the
history of the funding which has oc-
cured already. 1t would be hard to
understand otherwise why so much of
the debt has never turned up to take
advantage of the different funding
offers made by the State. The debt
may thus be put for all practical pur-
poses at round $50, 000,0 900, even il the
holders of the bonds with tax-receiva-
bic coupons refuse any offer including
a reduction of present principal. Now,
as to the overdue tax-receivable cou-
pons which are not taken into account
in the above estimate, the State holds
sufficient in new 3s to buy them all mp
at much higher price than they now
command. The amount outstanding
January /, 1887, was about Si,0O),OOJ
by the largest estimates usually made.
The market price is less than 40, and
the whole would rush in to be ex-
changed for new IS, say, at 20, which
would require only S2,S00,0OO of the
$4,000, 900 in IS which the State holds.
This would be the equivalent of As cents
for the coupons at present prices of the
bonds. Instead of offering the new 3's
at par in exchange for the classes (c)
and I'D above, better bargain for the
State, and perhaps one just as accepta-
BILE to the bondholders, would be the
offer of exchange ON the basis offered
in the Riddleberger bill for the l0-40's-
that is GO per cent. but with their
bonds TO be deposited with the Trust
Company for security, and to be re-
turned to them if the State defaulted
again. Such an arrangement would
cut off $S,000,000 of the principal as
set down above, and no reasonable man
ought to object to it. The new 3's
issued under this last arrangement
would rank very high on the market,
and would sell at between S0and 80.
II. A. s.
We are surprised that H. A. S. should
think of offering the bondholders who
compel the State to take their coupons
better terms than he offers those VINO
have funded under the RIDDLEBERGER
bill. That is about the only difference
between his figures and the Second Au-